Footwear with a lace fastening

ABSTRACT

Footwear with a lace fastening an opening with a first edge and a second edge. are juxtaposed and each carries a respective plurality of lacing eyes. At least two laces extend through respective pairs of the lacing eyes. The ends of both of the laces converge on both of the edges of the opening, with at least one end of each lace extending through a respective end lacing eye of the fastening provided on each of the opposite edges.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The subject of the present invention is footwear with a lace fasteningof the type described in the preamble to the main claim. Footwearincluding these characteristics is known from U.S. 2003/0051374 A1.

BACKGROUND ART

A field of particular interest for the application of the invention isthat of sports boots such as snow-boarding, trekking, and skating bootsand the like, which have uppers that are quite stiff and elongated andthe fastenings of which have to satisfy the conflicting requirements ofquick and effective tightening and equally quick and effectiveloosening. However, the technical teachings provided by the inventionare applicable to footwear of different types with preferred use inboots which require a fairly long fastening and a fairly stiff upper.

Amongst the known advantages of lace fastenings is that of creating ahomogeneous closure for the foot along the entire extent of the edges ofthe access opening of the footwear. However, to achieve this, each ofthe edges of the footwear must carry a respective plurality of lacingeyes arranged fairly close together. Arranging the lacing eyes closetogether, however, leads to an increase in the angle formed by the laceas it extends into and out of the eyes, which in turn causes greaterfriction between the lace and the lacing eyes. For this reason, it isnot generally possible to fasten (or, on the other hand, to loosen) thefastening simply by exerting a pull on the ends of the lace, but it isnecessary to pull on intermediate portions of the lace in order todistribute the pulling load along the entire fastening. Lacing-eyedevices and members of particular shapes and designs have beeninvestigated to minimize the effects of the friction between the lacingeyes and the lace. For example, lacing eyes provided with pulleys, withresin inserts having a low coefficient of friction, or with curvedprofiles have been produced but, in parallel with possible advantages interms of the ability of the lace to slide, all these involve otherdisadvantages. In particular, these special devices are bulky and/ordelicate and therefore respond poorly either to the need for strengthfor heavy uses and/or for use in difficult environmental conditions, orto the more typically decorative requirements of the footwear. Moreover,their efficacy in reducing the above-mentioned friction is only partial,to the extent that it is not normally possible, even with relativelyshort fastenings, to tighten the footwear simply by pulling on the endsof the laces.

U.S. 2003/0034365A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,195 describe sports footwearwith lace fastenings in which the two ends of the lace converge in agrip for preventing soreness of the user's hand during the tightening ofthe fastening.

U.S. 2003/0051374 A1 describes a double-lace fastening in which all ofthe ends of the laces extend through a single edge of the fastening andconverge in a strap which in turn can be fixed releasably to thefootwear upper beyond the opposite edge. This fastening is suitableexclusively for shoes with a limited number of lacing eyes since it doesnot permit a high lacing tension to be exerted on the ends of the laces.It also causes non-homogeneous lacing tensions on the two laces sincethey follow different paths and are of different lengths. In practice,various shapes of users' feet cause a different length of lace to beengaged in the lacing eyes according to the position occupied along theopening to be closed so that, once the fastening is closed, the freeends of the laces are not necessarily of equal length.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The problem underlying the present invention is that of providingfootwear the fastening of which is designed structurally andfunctionally to prevent all of the problems discussed with reference tothe prior art mentioned.

This problem is solved by the invention by footwear formed in accordancewith the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristics and the advantages of the invention will becomeclearer from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereofwhich is described by way of non-limiting example with reference to theappended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a boot according to the inventionwith the fastening open,

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the boot of FIG. 1 during theclosure of the fastening,

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the boot of FIG. 1 with thefastening closed, and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a variant of the boot according to theinvention with a different threading of the ends of the laces.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the drawings, a boot formed in accordance with the present inventionis generally indicated 1. The boot 1 is of the type used for the sportof snow boarding but the invention is applicable equally effectively tothe production of footwear of other types.

The boot 1 comprises an upper 2 with a sole 3 and an opposed entrance 4for the fitting on of the boot. An opening 5 is formed in the upper 2and has juxtaposed edges indicated 5 a, 5 b. A tongue 6 extends from thelower end 8 of the opening 5 as far as the entrance 4 and is optionallyprovided with padding 7. A lacing eye 9 with two channels 10 a,b isprovided in the opening 5 in the region of its lower end 8.

Respective pluralities of lacing eyes 11 a,b, 12 a,b, 13 a,b, 14 a,b, 15a,b, 16 a,b, 17 a,b are fitted in corresponding and facing positions onthe respective edges 5 a, 5 b (by convention, the lacing eyes on theedge 5 a are marked with the letter “a” and the lacing eyes fitted onthe edge 5 b with the letter “b”). The lacing eyes 17 a,b will bereferred to below as the end lacing eyes of the fastening.

A first lace and a second lace, indicated 20 and 21, respectively, areengaged in the lacing eyes 9 and in the further lacing eyes 11 a,b to 17a,b in the manner indicated below. The ends of the laces, 20, 21,meaning the portions of the laces which extend beyond the end lacingeyes 17 a,b, are also engaged in respective locking devices 22 a,b, forexample, of the constricting type.

The two laces 20, 21 extend through alternate lacing eyes of the twoseries of lacing eyes In a manner such that, between two lacing eyes ofthe same edge through which the first lace extends, there is at leastone lacing eye of the same edge through which the second lace extends.Both of the laces 20, 21 also extend through respective channels 10 a,10 b of the lacing eye 9 and through the two end lacing eyes 17 a,b ofthe fastening. In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3, the first lace 20 istherefore engaged in the lacing eyes 9, 11 a-b, 13 a-b, 15 a-b and 17a-b, crossing between the lacing eyes 11-13, 13-15, and 15-17 (a-b). Thesecond lace 21 is in turn engaged in the lacing eyes 9, 12 a-b, 14 a-b,16 a-b and 17 a-b, crossing between the lacing eyes 12-13 and 14-16(a-b). At the exit from the fastening, a corresponding end of each ofthe two laces is led through a respective end lacing eye.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, both of the corresponding ends of the samelace are led through the same end lacing eye 17 a,b so that both ends ofthe first lace are led through the end lacing eye 17 a and both the endsof the second lace are led through the opposite end lacing eye 17 b. Inthis second embodiment, it is necessary to provide a further returnlacing eye 18 between the lacing eyes 16 and 17.

Since the portions of each lace engage alternate lacing eyes, for agiven “closeness” of the lacing eyes, a smaller angle is formed wherethe lace extends into and out of the respective lacing eye, resulting inless friction between the laces 20, 21 and the lacing eyes.

The sliding of the laces through the lacing eyes is thus considerablyfacilitated without, however, prejudicing the uniformity of thefastening tension. This characteristic, together with the fact that thelace tensioning function is distributed over two separate laces and isconsequently halved in comparison with conventional fastenings, makes itpossible to close the entire fastening simply by exerting a pull on theends of the laces, without distributing the tightening load manuallyover intermediate portions of the fastening (that is, without “pulling”the intermediate loops of the laces manually). Since corresponding endsof the two laces converge on opposite edges of the opening 5, the lacescan be tensioned independently of the shape of the foot, or of theextent of the opening 5. Moreover, the fastening can be closed to thedesired tension in a pulsed manner, that is, by firstly exerting agreater tension on one pair of ends of the laces, for example, thoseconverging on the right-hand edge of the upper and then a correspondinggreater tension on the other pair of ends converging on the left-handedge, alternating the pulls applied and overcoming the friction to thebest possible extent.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the free ends ofthe laces 20, 21 are joined together at the ends to form a closed loopin which the joined ends of the laces form respective grips 23 forfacilitating the pulling and tightening of the fastening. Thisarrangement enables the fastening to be closed even when wearing glovesand in any case by exerting a more effective pull without painfullystressing the fingers, as shown in FIG. 2.

Moreover, with the boot thus designed, there is no longer any need toclose the fastening progressively so that the use of open (generallyhook-shaped) lacing eyes is superfluous. Since closed lacing eyes can beused (in the embodiment shown lacing eyes of the type with a tape loopsewn to the upper are shown) the laces remain engaged therein even whenthe fastening is loosened which makes it possible to wear the boot andwalk in it with the laces fully loosened, without the free endshampering movement.

Although, on the one hand, to fasten the footwear, it suffices to exerta tension on the ends of the laces by means of the grips 23 and to lockthe constricting locking devices, on the other hand, the operation toloosen the footwear is just as quick and easy and requires purelyloosening of the constricting locking devices in order for the lace toslide through the lacing eyes with little friction, reducing thefastening load.

Finally, to prevent undesired loosening of the fastened boot and toprevent the hindrance due to the free ends of the laces, when thefastening is tightened, the two ends can be knotted together as shown inFIG. 3.

The boot may be equipped with two or more laces, arranged with differentalternating arrangements in the lacing eyes. Moreover, the constrictinglocking devices may be fixed to the upper or may be free relativethereto.

1. Footwear with a lace fastening comprising: an opening with a firstedge and a second edge which are juxtaposed and each of the first andsecond edges carries a respective plurality of lacing eyes, at least twolaces extending through respective pairs of the lacing eyes and the endsof both of the laces converge on both of the edges of the opening, withat least one end of each lace extending through a respective end lacingeye of the fastening provided on each of the first and second edges. 2.The footwear according to claim 1 in which the corresponding ends ofeach lace converge in respective and separate grips.
 3. The footwearaccording to claim 1 in which the laces are led through alternatinglacing eyes of the respective pluralities of lacing eyes in a mannersuch that, between two lacing eyes of the same edge through which afirst of the laces extends, there is at least one lacing eye of the sameedge through which a second of the laces extends.
 4. The footwearaccording to claim 1 in which the lacing eyes are of the closed-eyetype.
 5. The footwear according to claim 1 in which means are providedfor locking the laces and are active independently on each pair of therespective ends of laces converging in the same grip.
 6. The footwearaccording to claim 5 in which the locking means are of the constrictingtype.
 7. The footwear according to claim 5 in which the locking meansare provided in the region of the respective end lacing eyes.
 8. Thefootwear according to claim 2 in which the laces are led throughalternating lacing eyes of the respective pluralities of lacing eyes ina manner such that, between two lacing eyes of the same edge throughwhich a first of the laces extends, there is at least one lacing eye ofthe same edge through which a second of the laces extends.
 9. Thefootwear according to claim 2 in which the lacing eyes are of theclosed-eye type.
 10. The footwear according to claim 3 in which thelacing eyes are of the closed-eye type.
 11. The footwear according toclaim 2 in which means are provided for locking the laces and are activeindependently on each pair of the respective ends of laces converging inthe same grip.
 12. The footwear according to claim 3 in which means areprovided for locking the laces and are active independently on each pairof the respective ends of laces converging in the same grip.
 13. Thefootwear according to claim 4 in which means are provided for lockingthe laces and are active independently on each pair of the respectiveends of laces converging in the same grip.
 14. The footwear according toclaim 6 in which the locking means are provided in the region of therespective end lacing eyes.